Hoping To Drive General Public Toward General Aviation

Quick--how far is the nearest airport? Not the big airport-any airport? According to NASA, 98% of Americans live and work just 30 minutes from a convenient small airport. The country has more than 5,000 such "general aviation" airports, and NASA thinks they should be better utilized.

Next month ARINC Incorporated and other Maryland aviation interests will showcase some of the latest electronic technologies being developed for small airports and general aviation at a half-day event at Easton Airport in Easton (MD). The event June 16 is part of NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation Systems (SATS) program, developing new technologies for enhanced operations at America's "non-tower" airports. The public is invited to the live demonstration and test flights, scheduled from 9am to 12 noon.

NASA's focus for SATS is to improve air travel and safety by giving general aviation many of the advanced capabilities of commercial aviation at large airports. These could include new digital air/ground communications, new highly-accurate GPS to allow small aircraft to land safely in poor visibility, aircraft-to-aircraft locators to maintain safe separation near airports, and new ground automation and "virtual towers" to monitor activity and clear flights at unmanned fields.

SATS is NASA's vision for an expansion and integration of general aviation aircraft into the nation's airways. The long-term goal is to increase access to smaller communities and improve mobility for the transportation of people, services, and cargo.

The SATS demonstration is coordinated with the 2004 Maryland Airport Summit Conference in Easton. A pre-demonstration of SATS technologies will be presented after the conference in the Easton Airport terminal building on the evening of June 15. Live SATS demonstrations will take place Thursday June 16 from 9am to 12 noon, showcasing several emerging technologies in the SATS program applied to actual flight operations at the airport.

The demonstration is sponsored by the Maryland Mid-Atlantic SATSLab, a partnership of private, public, and university institutions. The 2004 Maryland Airport Summit Conference is co-sponsored by the Maryland Airport Managers Association and the Maryland Aviation Administration.

The Maryland Mid-Atlantic SATSLab team is comprised of state aviation organizations, private sector companies, end-user groups, non-profit organizations, and academia. This year's integrated technology flight validations by the teams will be followed by further proof of concept flight demonstrations scheduled in Virginia in 2005. For more information regarding the Maryland Mid-Atlantic SATSLab contact John McKinley, Director, University Research Foundation, at 301-345-8664.

FMI: www.arinc.com